|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
Currently in her 11th year of teaching, Helena Miller has taught high school
humanities in Indiana, Hawai'i and New York City. She came to New York City
in 2003 to design and be the lead-teacher for the high school after school
program in the NYC Department of Education. She has taught 11th & 12th
grade English as well as 9th grade humanities. Her classes follow an
inclusion model and utilize block scheduling.
Helena's work has consistently been grounded in the philosophy of the
Coalition of Essential Schools and she has been involved in the National
School Reform Faculty (NSRF) since its inception. She is a Critical Friends
Group coach and was recently endorsed by NSRF at NYU.
Helena's workshops emphasize practical tools backed by research and
practice. She aims for participants to be able to use workshop time to
build tools for their classroom and leave the day with resources, skills and
plans that can be implemented in the classroom immediately.
Professional Learning Communities
Facilitator: Helena Miller
Most professional development workshops involve an outside "expert" who
teaches participants a new skill, specific content, or a particular
pedagogical method. While the traditional PD model works well in many
instances, this workshop presents a different formula. What if we use
professional development time not to seek outside expertise but to bring our
own teachers' and administrators' outstanding knowledge and skills to one
another? This workshop will teach professional educators how to use each
other as "critical friends." The aim will be for us to help one another to
look reflectively at our own work, look closely at student work, enrich our
practice and, as a result, improve educational equity and student
achievement in our schools. Participants will see the research that
supports "professional learning communities" and then learn how to use a
variety of discussion protocols to help facilitate a "critical friends
group." We will practice applying these tools to address participants'
current needs, and everyone will leave with resources that they can use to
begin or enrich an existing professional learning community in their own
school.
The facilitator of this workshop has participated in Professional Learning
Communities for over 13 years and is a Critical Friends Group coach endorsed
by the National School Reform Faculty at NYU.
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
